NBA player single edition NFT auctioned at a record-breaking price
Sorare recently auctioned an NBA Top Shot player NFT for a record $187,000 value in ETH. The highest recorded amount an NBA NFT has been sold for.
Interesting moments for sports NFTs
One of the popular NBA NFT platforms is NBA Top Shot which converts interesting moments into NFTs. The platform has seen good performance and has generated more than $1 billion since it was launched. These are sales made in the secondary market since 2021 when it entered the mainstream NFT market.
Recent metrics shows that the platform has raised its sales bar for an NBA NFT at the marketplace Sorare. The NFT of the NBA player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, was snapped up for a record $187,000 paid in ether. The record-breaking sale is the highest amount that an NBA NFT has been sold for. It is also the biggest month for the platform in terms of sales made.
The NFT industry has sucessfully attracted both celebrities and athletes, who are usually lured to endorse NFT projects. Many have embraced the space and moved ahead by getting fully involved through the launch of their own NFTs.
A tripling of previous record
Over the weekend, the NFT piece was sold for 113.9 ETH, which is equivalent to $187,000 at Sorare, an NFT platform that is built on the Ethereum blockchain.
The NBA star NFT is one of thousands of non-fungible tokens available at the next generation platform made for collectors who are mainly NBA fans. With regard to the auction, the single edition NFT practically tripled the price of the top sale of an NBA NFT. In December, the single edition NBA collectible of Anthony Davis was sold for 49 ETH which was valued at $62,000 at that time.
This is not the first time that a Giannis Antetokounmpo NFT has been sold at Sorare, however, this is the highest amount that the player’s NFT has been sold for as shown by data from CryptoSlam.
Physical trading cards still dwarfed NFTs
As impressive as the sale is, it is still dwarfed by sales of physical trading cards which people are willing to pay even more for.
A rookie card autographed by Antetounmpo was bought by a collector for $1.8 million in September 2020. When it was sold, the card briefly was the highest grossing playing card. The memorabilia had a piece of jersey worn in games embedded in it. It is not surprising that physical trading cards are valued more than NFTs. These cards have been around and collected by collectors for decades. NFTs recently gained the attention of people as an offshoot of the digital revolution of cryptocurrencies.
What many industry watchers find interesting in all this is that the sale shows that Sorare is poised to become a major player in the NFT marketplace. The sale is a reflection of the rebound of the NFT market in January which saw the market expand by 38%, a momentum that is expected to be sustained this month.
